Cancellation & refund policy

On the boat's listing page, and again at checkout — in the price summary and on a step that spells out every tier as a real date and the amount you would get back. You know the terms before you send a request, not after.

An example, to show the shape — your boat's own terms may differ: a full refund if you cancel 30 or more days before departure, 50% from 14 to 29 days, and no refund inside 14 days. Some owners offer free cancellation right up to departure.

The terms recorded on your booking are the ones you were shown when you sent your request. If the owner later changes their listing, your booking keeps the terms you agreed to.

A booking request is not yet a reservation: no dates are held and no cancellation terms apply. You can withdraw a request at any time at no cost, and an owner can decline it at no cost to you.

At this stage your card is authorised, not charged — the amount is reserved on your card and nothing is taken. If you withdraw, the owner declines, or the request goes unanswered, we release the reservation and you are charged nothing, service fee included. Your bank decides when the reserved amount disappears from your available balance; it is usually a few business days, and it can take up to 10.

You can cancel from your booking page. The refund is a percentage of your trip total, decided by how many calendar days remain before departure on the day you cancel, using the terms recorded on your booking:

• If one of the owner's tiers applies, you get that tier's percentage back. When several tiers apply, you get the most generous one.
• If the boat offers free cancellation, you get 100% back.
• If you cancel too late for any tier, or the boat has no refundable tier, the refund is 0%, and the owner keeps the payment.

The security deposit is never part of this. It is paid to the owner on the spot and returned by them — we never handle it, so it is not money we could refund.

If an owner cancels a booking they have confirmed, you are refunded in full, whatever their listing's terms say. Those terms protect an owner against a guest cancelling; they do not apply to the owner's own cancellation. A refund in full includes the service fee.

Safety comes first. The owner (or the skipper in charge) decides whether a trip can go ahead safely. If bad weather or another event outside anyone's control — for example a port closure, a storm warning or an official order — means the trip cannot go out, you can choose between a full refund and moving the trip to another date you and the owner agree. The decision whether the boat can sail is the owner's; the choice between refund and rescheduling is yours.

Weather that is merely unpleasant, but does not make the trip unsafe or impossible, is not grounds for a refund. If you and the owner disagree, contact us and we will look at the case.

Our commission is taken from the owner's money, not yours, and only on the part of the payment the owner keeps. On any amount refunded to you, no commission is taken.

If a service fee applies, it is shown as its own line before you pay. It is charged on top of the rental. It is not refunded when you cancel a confirmed booking, and it is refunded in full when the owner cancels or when the booking was never confirmed.

• To the same card you paid with. We cannot refund to a different card or account.
• In the currency you paid. Refunds go back in the currency you were charged. If your card is in another currency, your bank converts the amount.
• Within 5–10 business days. We start the refund right away; how fast it shows on your statement depends on your bank.
• You get an email when a refund is issued.

To cancel, use your booking page. For anything else — a refund that has not arrived after 10 business days, an owner cancellation, a weather or safety question, or a disagreement with an owner — write to chartermeister.hq@gmail.com with your booking reference, within 30 days of the trip date. Please don't open a dispute with your bank before writing to us; we can usually fix it faster.

The 14-day right of withdrawal that applies to many online purchases in the European Union does not apply to boat rentals and tours booked for a specific date or period. The cancellation terms above are what applies instead.